São Paulo, March 2, 2015--Brazilian authorities should immediately investigate the murder of radio journalist Ivanildo Viana, identify the motive, and bring the killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On February 13, 2015, Ecuador's media oversight commission, the Superintendency of Information and Communication (SUPERCOM), ordered the Guayaquil-based daily El Universo to publish an apology in connection with a cartoon drawn by Xavier Bonilla, a cartoonist known by his penname Bonil, which was published on August 5, 2014, according to news reports.

When I heard the news last week that Bob Simon had died, I immediately thought back to an interview I had done with him in 2010. It was at an event called the "Courage Forum.," an ideas festival which took place the Museum of Modern Art hosted in New York City. It featured speakers who had demonstrated courage in various walks of life, among them tight rope artist Philippe Petit.

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Bogotá, February 18, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder on Saturday of a Colombian radio station owner and calls on authorities to identify the motive and ensure the perpetrators are held to account. Luis Carlos Peralta Cuéllar was a journalist and an aspiring politician who often broadcast reports criticizing political corruption in the southern Colombian town of Doncello.

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Mexico City, January 29, 2015--The decapitated body of Mexican journalist José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo was found early Saturdayin Veracruz state, according to a statement from the state attorney general's office. The journalist and owner of the newspaper La Unión had been missing since January 2.

New York, January 26, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Argentine journalist Damián Pachter fled the country early Saturday out of concern for his safety, according to news reports. Pachter broke the news on January 18 that Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor investigating the 1994 terrorist attack on Jewish cultural center AMIA, had been found dead the night before he was to testify about the attack.

Attempts to amend Ecuador's constitution to categorize communications as a "public service" has sparked a fierce debate, with one critic drawing comparisons to the way dictators such as Stalin and Hitler used the press as a propaganda tool, and supporters of President Rafael Correa's government arguing that the proposed reforms will make journalism more accountable and accessible.

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Venezuelan newspapers have traditionally handed out hundreds of courtesy copies in their lobbies and at hotels. But Correo del Caroní, an independent daily in the industrial city of Ciudad Guayana, treats every edition as if it were precious and now gives away just 14 copies, including one to the owner.

New York, January 5, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the abduction of Mexican journalist José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo and calls on authorities to do their utmost to find him and apprehend the perpetrators.

To illustrate how the once-critical Caracas daily El Universalhas cozied up to Venezuela's socialist government in the wake of its sale in July, it helps to examine the newspaper's coverage of the current oil price plunge.